Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, and has a highly centralised population, with over 70% of Victorians living in Melbourne, the state capital and largest city. Approximately 30,000 Indigenous Australians are estimated to have lived in the area, before European settlement in Victoria began in the 1830s. The discovery of gold in 1851 at Ballarat and Warrandyte transformed it into a leading industrial and commercial centre.

Etymology

History

After the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia was divided into an eastern half named New South Wales and a western half named New Holland, under the administration of the colonial government in Sydney. The first European settlement in the area later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay, Victoria on Port Phillip Bay. It consisted of 308 convicts, 51 marines, 17 free settlers, 12 civil officers, a missionary and his wife. They had been sent from England in HMS Calcutta under the command of Captain Daniel Woodriff, principally out of fear that the French, who had been exploring the area, might establish their own settlement and thereby challenge British rights to the continent.

Victoria's next settlement was at Portland, on the west coast of what is now Victoria. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman.

From settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. In 1851, the British Government separated the area from New South Wales, proclaiming a new Colony of Victoria.

In 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at many sites across Victoria. This triggered one of the largest gold rushes the world has ever seen. The colony grew rapidly in both population and economic power. In ten years the population of Victoria increased sevenfold from 76,000 to 540,000. All sorts of gold records were produced including the "richest shallow alluvial goldfield in the world" and the largest gold nugget. Victoria produced in the decade 1851–1860 20 million ounces of gold, one third of the world's output[citation needed].

Immigrants arrived from all over the world to search for gold, especially from Ireland and China. Many Chinese miners worked in Victoria, and their legacy is particularly strong in Bendigo and its environs. Although there was some racism directed at them, there was not the level of anti-Chinese violence that was seen at the Lambing Flat riots in New South Wales. However, there was a riot at Buckland Valley near Bright in 1857. Conditions on the gold fields were cramped and unsanitary; an outbreak of typhoid at Buckland Valley in 1854 killed over 1,000 miners.

In 1854 there was an armed rebellion against the government of Victoria by miners protesting against mining taxes (the "Eureka Stockade"). This was crushed by British troops, but the discontents prompted colonial authorities to reform the administration (particularly reducing the hated mining licence fees) and extend the franchise. Within a short time, the Imperial Parliament granted Victoria responsible government with the passage of the Colony of Victoria Act 1855. Some of the leaders of the Eureka rebellion went on to became members of the Victorian Parliament.

The first foreign military action by the colony of Victoria was to send troops and a warship to New Zealand as part of the Maori Wars. Troops from New South Wales had previously participated in the Crimean War.

In 1901 Victoria became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia. As a result of the gold rush, Melbourne had by then become the financial centre of Australia and New Zealand. Between 1901 and 1927, Melbourne was the capital of Australia while Canberra was under construction. It was also the largest city in Australia at the time and the second largest city in terms of population of the British Empire (after London). Whilst Melbourne remains an important and influential financial centre, home to many national and international companies, it was slowly overtaken by Sydney in business importance around the 1970s and 1980s.

Eighty-eight members of the Legislative Assembly are elected to four-year terms from single-member electorates.

In November 2006, the Victorian Legislative Council elections were held under a new multi-proportional representation system. The State of Victoria was divided into eight electorates with each electorate represented by five representatives elected by Single Transferable Voteproportional representation. The total number of upper house members was reduced from 44 to 40 and their term of office is now the same as the lower house members — four years. Elections for the Victorian Parliament are now fixed and occur in November every four years. Prior to the 2006 Election the Legislative Council consisted of 44 members elected to eight-year terms from 22 two-member electorates.

Premier and cabinet

The Premier of Victoria is the leader of the political party or coalition with the most seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Premier is the public face of government and, with cabinet, sets the legislative and political agenda. Cabinet consists of representatives elected to either house of parliament. It is responsible for managing areas of government that are not exclusively the Commonwealth's, by the Australian Constitution, such as education, health and law enforcement. The current premier of Victoria is Mr John Brumby.

Governor

Executive authority is vested in the Governor of Victoria who represents and is appointed by Queen Elizabeth II. The post is usually filled by a retired prominent Victorian. The governor acts on the advice of the premier and cabinet.

Constitution

Victoria has a written constitution. Enacted in 1975, but based on the 1855 colonial constitution, it establishes the parliament as the state's law-making body for matters coming under state responsibility. The Victorian Constitution can be amended by the parliament of Victoria. Under new provisions to be enacted, changes to the Victorian Constitution will be subjected to a plebiscite of votes, voting in a referendum.

Following the 2006 Victorian election, the balance of power in the Legislative Council is now held by the Australian Greens. This means that by combining with the Liberal and National Party members, the Greens can defeat proposed Government legislation.

On 27 July 2007, Premier Steve Bracks announced his resignation from politics, saying that he needed to spend more time with his family.[7] The deputy premier, John Thwaites, announced later that day that he too would resign. Former Treasurer John Brumby was elected unopposed by the Labor caucus as the new leader and became the 45th Premier of Victoria on Monday 30 July 2007.

Federal government

Victorian voters elect 49 representatives to the Parliament of Australia, including 37 members of the House of Representatives and 12 members of the Senate. Since 2007, the ALP has held 21 Victorian house seats, the Liberals 14 and the Nationals two. As of 1 July 2008, the Liberals have held six senate seats, the ALP five and the Family First Party one.

Local government

Victoria is incorporated into 79 municipalities for the purposes of local government, including 39 shires, 32 cities, seven rural cities and one borough. Shire and city councils are responsible for functions delegated by the Victorian parliament, such as city planning, road infrastructure and waste management. Council revenue comes mostly from property taxes and government grants.

The 2006 Australian census reported that Victoria had 4,932,422 people resident at the time of the census, an increase of 6.2% on the 1996 figure. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that by June 2007 the state's population reached 5,205,200, and may well reach 7.2 million by 2050.

Victoria's founding Anglo-Celtic population has been supplemented by successive waves of migrants from southern and eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and, most recently, the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. Victoria's population is ageing in proportion with the average of the remainder of the Australian population.

About 72% of Victorians are Australian-born. This figure falls to around 66% in Melbourne but rises to higher than 95% in some rural areas in the north west of the state. Around two-thirds of Victorians claim Australian, English or Irish ancestry. Less than 1% of Victorians identify themselves as Aboriginal. The largest groups of people born outside Australia came from the British Isles, China, Italy, Vietnam, Greece and New Zealand.

Victoria is Australia's most urbanised state: nearly 90% of residents living in cities and towns. Since 1871, more than half of all Victorians have lived in urban areas. Today, just over 12% of Victorians live in rural areas.[citation needed] The drift of people into Melbourne continues despite government efforts to encourage Victorians to settle in regional areas.[citation needed]

Age structure and fertility

The government predicts that nearly a quarter of Victorians will be aged over 60 by 2021. The 2006 census reveals that Australian average age has crept upward from 35 to 37 since 2001, which reflects the population growth peak of 1969–72.[citation needed] In 2007, Victoria recorded a TFR of 1.87, the highest after 1978. [2]

Religion

About 60.5% of Victorians describe themselves as Christian. Roman Catholics form the single largest religious group in the state with 27.5% of Victorian population, followed by Anglicans and members of the Uniting Church. Catholics and Protestants (including Anglicans) in Victoria each form around 30% of the population. Buddhism, the state's largest non-Christian religion, is also the fastest growing with 132,634. Victoria is also home of 109,370 Muslims and 41,105 Jews. Around 20% of Victorians claim no religion, and even amongst those who declare a religious affiliation, church attendance is low.[9]

In 2008, the levels of couples choosing to marry in a church had dropped to 36 percent; the other 64 percent chose to register their marriage with a civil celebrant.[10]

Education

Primary and secondary

Victoria's state school system dates back to 1872, when the colonial government legislated to make schooling both free and compulsory. The state's public secondary school system began in 1905. Before then, only private secondary schooling was available. Today, a Victorian school education consists of seven years of primary schooling (including one preparatory year) and six years of secondary schooling.

The final years of secondary school are optional for children aged over 17. Victorian children generally begin school at age five or six. On completing secondary school, students earn the Victorian Certificate of Education. Students who successfully complete their secondary education also receive a tertiary entrance ranking, or ENTER score, to determine university admittance.

Victorian schools are either publicly or privately funded. Public schools, also known as state or government schools, are funded and run directly by the Victoria Department of Education[3]. Students do not pay tuition fees, but some extra costs are levied. Private fee-paying schools include parish schools run by the Roman Catholic Church and independent schools similar to English public schools. Independent schools are usually affiliated with Protestant churches. Victoria also has several private Jewish and Islamic primary and secondary schools. Private schools also receive some public funding. All schools must comply with government-set curriculum standards. In addition, Victoria features two selective schools, Melbourne High School for boys, MacRobertson Girls' High School for girls. Students at these schools are exclusively admitted on the basis of a selective entry test. These schools consistently achieve the highest results in the state in the VCE.

As of August 2005, Victoria had 1,613 public schools, 484 Catholic schools and 208 independent schools. Just under 537,000 students were enrolled in public schools, and 289,000 in private schools. Nearly two-thirds of private students attend Catholic schools. More than 455,000 students were enrolled in primary schools and more than 371,000 in secondary schools. Retention rates for the final two years of secondary school were 77% for public school students and 90% for private school students. Victoria has about 60,200 full-time teachers.

Tertiary education

The University of Melbourne is Victoria's oldest university.

Victoria has nine universities. The first to offer degrees, the University of Melbourne, enrolled its first student in 1855. The largest, Monash University, has an enrolment of nearly 56,000 students—more than any other Australian university. Both the University of Melbourne and Monash University are purportedly ranked highly among the world's best universities requiring a fairly high entry score, passing of mature age entrance exams or direct payment for student admission into their courses.

The number of students enrolled in Victorian universities was 241,755 at 2004, an increase of 2% on the previous year. International students made up 30% of enrolments and account for the highest percentage of pre-paid university tuition fees. The largest number of enrolments were recorded in the fields of business, administration and economics, with nearly a third of all students, followed by arts, humanities, and social science, with 20% of enrolments.

Victoria has 18 government-run institutions of “technical and further education” (TAFE). The first vocational institution in the state was the Melbourne Mechanics Institute (established in 1839), which is now the Melbourne Athenaeum. More than 1,000 adult education organisations are registered to provide recognised TAFE programs. In 2004, there were about 480,700 students enrolled in vocational education programs in the state.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Department of Education and Training (Victoria), Department of Education, Science and Training (Commonwealth), National Centre for Vocational Education Research

The State Library of Victoria forecourt.

Libraries

The State Library of Victoria is the State's research and reference library. It is responsible for collecting and preserving Victoria's documentary heritage and making it available through a range of services and programs. Material in the collection includes books, newspapers, magazines, journals, manuscripts, maps, pictures, objects, sound and video recordings and databases.

In addition, local governments maintain local lending libraries, typically with multiple branches in their respective municipal areas.

The state of Victoria has the largest economy in Australia after New South Wales, accounting for a quarter of the nation's gross domestic product. The total gross state product (GSP) at current prices for Victoria was at just over A$222 billion, with a GSP per capita of A$44,443. The economy grew by 3.4% in 2004, less than the Australian average of 5.2%.

Finance, insurance and property services form Victoria's largest income producing sector, while the community, social and personal services sector is the state's biggest employer. Despite the shift towards service industries, the troubled manufacturing sector remains Victoria's single largest employer and income producer. As a result of job losses in declining sectors such as manufacturing, Victoria has the highest unemployment rate in Australia as of September 2009[11]

1990s economic slump

Victoria experienced an economic slump from 1989 to 1992 during the term of John Cain. This was largely attributable to lagging property markets, reduced protection of manufacturing sectors as well as a financial crash involving industry giants such as the Pyramid Building Society and the collapse of The State Bank of Victoria, in particular its merchant banking arm Tricontinental. The result was a loss of employment and a drain of population to New South Wales and Queensland.

Under the government of former Premier Steve Bracks (Australian Labor Party), there was less emphasis on capital works and more on expansion of public services. Population increase now outstrips the national trend.

Agriculture

Victoria's stand at the Paris Exhibition Universal of 1867, showing bales of wool.

During 2003–04, the gross value of Victorian agricultural production increased by 17% to $8.7 billion. This represented 24% of national agricultural production total gross value. As of 2004, an estimated 32,463 farms occupied around 136,000 square kilometres (52,500 sq mi) of Victorian land. This comprises more than 60% of the state's total land surface. Victorian farms range from small horticultural outfits to large-scale livestock and grain productions. A quarter of farmland is used to grow consumable crops.

More than 26,000 square kilometres (10,000 sq mi) of Victorian farmland are sown for grain, mostly in the state's west. More than 50% of this area is sown for wheat, 33% for barley and 7% for oats. A further 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi) is sown for hay. In 2003–04, Victorian farmers produced more than 3 million tonnes of wheat and 2 million tonnes of barley. The state also grows about half of Australia's tobacco. Victorian farms produce nearly 90% of Australian pears and third of apples. It is also a leader in stone fruit production. The main vegetable crops include asparagus, broccoli, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. Last year, 121,200 tonnes of pears and 270,000 tonnes of tomatoes were produced.

More than 14 million sheep and 5 million lambs graze over 10% of Victorian farms, mostly in the state's north and west. In 2004, nearly 10 million lambs and sheep were slaughtered for local consumption and export. Victoria also exports live sheep to the Middle East for meat and to the rest of the world for breeding. More than 108,000 tonnes of wool clip was also produced—one-fifth of the Australian total.

Victoria is the centre of dairy farming in Australia. It is home to 60% of Australia's 3 million dairy cattle and produces nearly two-thirds of the nation's milk, almost 6.4 million litres. The state also has 2.4 million beef cattle, with more than 2.2 million cattle and calves slaughtered each year. In 2003–04, Victorian commercial fishing crews and aquaculture industry produced 11,634 tonnes of seafood valued at nearly $A109 million. Blacklipped abalone is the mainstay of the catch, bringing in $A46 million, followed by southern rock lobster worth $A13.7 million. Most abalone and rock lobster is exported to Asia.

Manufacturing

Machinery and equipment manufacturing is the state's most valuable activity, followed by food and beverage manufacturing and petroleum, coal and chemical manufacturing. More than 15% Victorian workers are employed in manufacturing industries. Victoria has 318,000 manufacturing workers. The state is marginally behind New South Wales in the value of manufacturing output.

Victoria also plays an important role in providing goods for the defence industry. Melbourne is the centre of manufacturing in Victoria, followed by Geelong. Energy production has aided industrial growth in the Latrobe Valley.

Mining

Mining in Victoria contributes around A$3 billion to the gross state product but employs less than 1% of workers. The Victorian mining industry is concentrated on energy producing minerals, with brown coal, petroleum and gas accounting for nearly 90% of local production. The oil and gas industries are centred off the coast of Gippsland in the state's east, while brown coal mining and power generation is based in the Latrobe Valley.

In the 2005/2006 fiscal year, the average gas production was over 700 million cubic feet (20,000,000 m3) per day (M cuft/d) and represented 18% of the total national gas sales, with demand growing at 2% per year.[12]

In 1985, oil production from the offshore Gippsland Basin peaked to an annual average of 450,000 barrels per day. In 2005–2006, the average daily oil production declined to 83,000 bbls/d, but despite the decline Victoria still produces almost 19.5% of crude oil in Australia.[13]

Brown coal is Victoria's leading mineral, with 66 million tonnes mined each year for electricity generation in the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland.[14] The region is home to the world's largest known reserves of brown coal.

Despite being the historic centre of Australia's gold rush, Victoria today contributes a mere 1% of national gold production. Victoria also produces limited amounts of gypsum and kaolin.

Service industry

The service industries sector is the fastest growing component of the Victorian economy. It includes the wide range of activities generally classified as community, social and personal services; finances, insurance and property services, government services, transportation and communication, and wholesale and retail trade. Most service industries are located in Melbourne and the state's larger regional centres.

As of 2004–05, service industries employed nearly three-quarters of Victorian workers and generated three-quarters of the state's GSP. Finance, insurance and property services, as a group, provide a larger share of GSP than any other economic activity in Victoria. More than a quarter of Victorian workers are employed by the community, social and personal services sector.[15]

Geology and geography

Victoria's northern border is the southern bank of the Murray River. It also rests at the southern end of the Great Dividing Range, which stretches along the east coast and terminates west of Ballarat. It is bordered by South Australia to the west and shares Australian's shortest land border with Tasmania. The official border between Victoria and Tasmania is at 39°12' S, which passes through Boundary Islet in the Bass Strait for 85 metres.[16][17] Victoria contains many topographically, geologically and climatically diverse areas, ranging from the wet, temperate climate of Gippsland in the southeast to the snow-covered Victorian alpine areas which rise to almost 2,000 metres (6,500 ft), with Mount Bogong the highest peak at 1,986 m; (6,516 ft). There are extensive semi-arid plains to the west and northwest.

Transport

Victoria has the highest population density in any state in Australia, with population centres spread out over most of the state, with only the far northwest and the Victorian Alps lacking permanent settlement.

The Victorian road network services the population centres, with highways generally radiating from Melbourne and other major cities and rural centres with secondary roads interconnecting the highways to each other. Many of the highways are built to freeway standard ("M" freeways), while most are generally sealed and of reasonable quality.

There are also several smaller freight operators and numerous tourist railways operating over lines which were once parts of a state-owned system. Victorian lines mainly use the 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)broad gauge. However, the interstate trunk routes, as well as a number of branch lines in the west of the state have been converted to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge. Two tourist railways operate over 2 ft 6 in (762 mm)narrow gauge lines, which are the remnants of five formerly government-owned lines which were built in mountainous areas.

Melbourne has the world's largest tram network,[18] currently operated by Yarra Trams. As well as being a popular form of public transport, over the last few decades trams have become one of Melbourne's major tourist attractions. There are also tourist trams operating over portions of the former Ballarat and Bendigo systems. There are also tramway museums at Bylands and Haddon.

Utilities

Energy

Victoria's major utilities include a collection of brown-coal-fired power stations, particularly in the LaTrobe Valley.

Water

Victoria's water infrastructure includes a series of dams and reservoirs, predominantly in Central Victoria, that hold and collect water for much of the state. The water collected is of a very high quality and requires little chlorination treatment, giving the water a taste more like water collected in a rainwater tank. In regional areas however, such as in the west of the state, chlorination levels are much higher.

Victoria's water system is currently being linked by a series of pipelines to facilitate the privatisation of the state's water system, creating a water market where water will be traded between regions and investors can buy and sell water.[20] These works include the Wonthaggi desalination plant, being constructed to provide "new" water to the system to better facilitate water trade in a privatised market.[21]

Climate

Average monthly maximum
temperature in Victoria

Month

Melbourne

Mildura

January

25.8 °C

32.8 °C

February

25.8 °C

32.7 °C

March

23.8 °C

29.3 °C

April

20.2 °C

24.1 °C

May

16.6 °C

19.6 °C

June

14.0 °C

16.0 °C

July

13.4 °C

15.4 °C

August

14.9 °C

17.7 °C

September

17.2 °C

21.1 °C

October

19.6 °C

25.0 °C

November

21.8 °C

29.0 °C

December

24.1 °C

31.7 °C

Source: Bureau of Meteorology

Victoria has a varied climate despite its small size. It ranges from semi-arid and hot in the north-west, to temperate and cool along the coast. Victoria's main land feature, the Great Dividing Range, produces a cooler, mountain climate in the centre of the state.

Victoria's southernmost position on the Australian mainland means it is cooler and wetter than other mainland states and territories. The coastal plain south of the Great Dividing Range has Victoria's mildest climate. Air from the Southern Ocean helps reduce the heat of summer and the cold of winter. Melbourne and other large cities are located in this temperate region.

The Mallee and upper Wimmera are Victoria's warmest regions with hot winds blowing from nearby deserts. Average temperatures top 30 °C (86 °F) during summer and 15 °C (59 °F) in winter. Victoria's highest maximum temperature of 48.8 °C (119.9 °F) was recorded in Hopetoun on 7 February 2009, during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave.[22]

The Victorian Alps in the northeast are the coldest part of Victoria. The Alps are part of the Great Dividing Range mountain system extending east-west through the centre of Victoria. Average temperatures are less than 9 °C (48 °F) in winter and below 0 °C (32 °F) in the highest parts of the ranges. The state's lowest minimum temperature of –11.7 °C (10.9 °F) was recorded at Omeo on 13 June 1965, and again at Falls Creek on 3 July 1970.[22]

Rainfall

Victoria is the wettest Australian state after Tasmania. Rainfall in Victoria increases from north to south, with higher averages in areas of high altitude. Median annual rainfall exceeds 1,800 millimetres (71 in) in some parts of the northeast but is less than 250 millimetres (10 in) in the Mallee.

Rain is heaviest in the Otway Ranges and Gippsland in southern Victoria and in the mountainous northeast. Snow generally falls only in the mountains and hills in the centre of the state. Rain falls most frequently in winter, but summer precipitation is heavier. Rainfall is most reliable in Gippsland and the Western District, making them both leading farming areas. Victoria's highest recorded daily rainfall was 375 millimetres (14.7 in) at Tanybryn in the Otway Ranges on 22 March 1983.[22]

Average January temperatures:
Victoria's north is always hotter than coastal and mountainous areas.

Average July temperatures:
Victoria's hills and ranges are coolest during winter. Snow also falls there.

Average yearly precipitation:
Victoria's rainfall is concentrated in the mountainous north-east and coast.

The Central Victorian Highlands, 'Highcountry' are very well known for winter sports and bushwalking

Other popular tourism activities are gliding, hang-gliding, hot air ballooning and scuba diving.

Major events also play a big part in tourism in Victoria, particularly cultural tourism and sports tourism. Most of these events are centred around Melbourne, but others occur in regional cities, such as the V8 Supercars and Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island, the Grand Annual Steeplechase at Warrnambool and the Australian International Airshow at Geelong and numerous local festivals such as the popular Port Fairy Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival, Bells Beach SurfClassic and the Bright Autumn Festival.

Australia's most prestigious footrace, the Stawell Gift, is an annual event.

Victoria is also home to the Aussie Millions poker tournament, the richest in the southern hemisphere.

The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is one of the biggest horse racing events in the world and is one of the world's largest sporting events. The main race is for the $6 million Melbourne Cup, and crowds for the carnival exceed 700,000.

From Wikitravel

Contents

Victoria[1] is the southernmost
of the eastern mainland states of Australia. The state is roughly triangular in
shape. New South
Wales lies to the north / north-east, with the Murray River
forming most of the boundary between the two states. South Australia
lies to the west and the southern coast forms the other side of the
triangle. Melbourne, the
state capital and largest city, is nestled on Port Phillip Bay in
the center of the southern coast.

Understand

Time Zone

Standard time is 10 hours ahead of GMT and summer time (from the
first Sunday of October to the first Sunday of April) is 11 hours
ahead.

Get in

By car

Victoria has good cross border road connections into its
neighbouring states. The main routes from the north are the Princes
Highway following the coast and entering the state near Genoa,
the Hume Highway from Sydney
entering the state at Wodonga, the Newell Highway entering the state
near Shepparton and
being the main route from Brisbane, and the Sturt and Silver City
Highways entering at Mildura. From the west, the Princes Highway is
again the coastal route, and the Western Highway the more direct
route.

It is around 6 hours from Sydney to the Victorian border along the Hume
Highway, and another 3-4 hours from there into Melbourne.

By plane

Melbourne is the main
entry point to Victoria by air and has direct flights to all
Australian capital cities, and many international destinations.

Get around

By car

Touring Victoria by car is a straightforward and practical way
of seeing the state. Distances between towns tend not to be as
great as in other states, and it is unusual to drive for more than
a couple of hours without passing through a small town. Victoria
has the most developed road network of any state of Australia, and
most towns are accessible without using dirt of gravel roads. Roads
are indicated as motorways, A, B or C roads, but in general there
is no need to avoid a C road if it clearly provides the quickest
trip to where you want to go.

By public transport

The state rail company, V/Line [2] provides rail
services within the state, and connecting coach services to the
towns that the railway line no longer reaches to.

From LoveToKnow 1911

VICTORIA, a British
colonial state, occupying the southeastern corner of Australia. Its western
boundary is in 140° 58' E.; on the east it runs out to a point at
Cape Howe, in 150 E. long., being thus rudely
triangular in shape; the river Murray constitutes nearly the whole
of the northern boundary, its most northerly point being in 34° S.
lat.; the southern boundary is the coast-line of the Southern
Ocean and of Bass Strait; the most southerly
point is Wilson's Promontory in 39° S. lat, The greatest length
east and west is about 480 m.; the greatest width, in the west, is
about 250 m. The area is officially stated to be 87,884 sq. m.

The coast-line may be estimated at about Boo m. It begins about
the 141st meridian with bold but not
lofty sandstone cliffs,
worn into deep caves and capped by grassy undulations, which extend
inland to pleasant park-like lands. Capes Bridgewater and Nelson
form a peninsula of forest lands, broken by patches of meadow. To
the east of Cape Nelson lies the moderately sheltered inlet of Portland Bay, consisting of a
sweep of sandy beach flanked by
bold granite rocks. Then
comes a long unbroken stretch of high cliffs, which, owing to
insetting currents, have been the scene of many calamitous wrecks.
Cape Otway is the termination of a wild mountain range that here
abuts on the coast. Its brown cliffs rise vertically from the
water; and the steep slopes above are covered with dense forests of
exceedingly tall timber and tree-ferns. Eastwards from this cape
the line of cliffs gradually diminishes in height to about 20 to 40
ft. at the entrance to Port Phillip. Next comes Port Phillip Bay,
at the head of which stands the city of Melbourne. When the tide recedes from this bay through the narrow
entrance it often encounters a strong current just outside; the
broken and somewhat dangerous sea thus caused is called "the Rip."
East of Port Phillip Bay the shores consist for 15 m. of a line of
sandbanks; but at Cape Schanck they suddenly become high and bold.
East of this comes Western Port, a deep inlet more than half
occupied by French Island and Phillip Island. Its shores are flat
and uninteresting, in some parts swampy. The bay is shallow and of
little use for navigation. The coast continues rocky round Cape
Liptrap. Wilson's Promontory is a great rounded mass of granite
hills, with wild and striking scenery, tree-fern gullies and gigantic gum-trees, connected with the mainland by a narrow
sandy isthmus. At its
extremity lie a multitude of rocky islets, with steep granite
edges. North of this cape, and opening to the east, lies Corner
Inlet, which is dry at low water. The coast now continues low to
the extremity of the colony.
The slight bend northward forms a sort of bight called the Ninety Mile Beach, but it really
exceeds that length. It is an unbroken line of sandy shore, hacked
by low sandhills, on which grows a sparse dwarf vegetation. Behind these hills comes a
succession of lakes, surrounded by excellent land, and beyond these
rise the soft blue outlines of the mountain masses of the interior. The
shores on the extreme east are somewhat higher, and occasionally
rise in bold points. They terminate in Cape Howe, off which lies
Gabo Island, of small extent but containing an important lighthouse and signalling
station.

The western half of Victoria is level or slightly undulating,
and as a rule tame in its scenery, exhibiting only thinly timbered
grassy lands, with all the appearance of open parks. The north-west
corner of the colony, equally flat, is dry and sometimes sandy, and
frequently bare of vegetation, though in one part some seven or
eight millions of acres are covered with the dense brushwood known
as "mallee scrub." This wide western plain is slightly broken in
two places. In the south the wild ranges of Cape Otway are covered
over a considerable area with richly luxurious but almost
impassable forests. This district has been reserved as a state
forest and its coast forms a favourite holiday resort, the scenery being very
attractive. The middle of the plain is crossed by a thin line of
mountains, known as the Australian Pyrenees, at the western extremity of which
there are several irregularly placed transverse ranges, the chief
being the
Grampians, the Victoria Range and the Sierra Range. Their
highest point is Mount William (3600(3600 feet). The eastern half
of the colony is wholly different. Though there is plenty of level
land, it occurs in small patches, and chiefly in the south, in
Gippsland, which extends from Corner Inlet to Cape Howe. But a
great part of this eastern half is occupied with the complicated
mass of ranges known collectively as the Australian Alps. The whole forms a plateau averaging from
1000 to 2000 ft. high, with many smaller table lands ranging from
3000 to 5000 ft. in height. The highest peak, Bogong, is 6508 ft.
in altitude. The ranges
are so densely covered with vegetation that it is extremely
difficult to penetrate them. About fifteen peaks over 5000 ft. in
height have been measured. Along the ranges grow the giant trees for which Victoria is
famous. ' The narrow valleys and gullies contain exquisite scenery,
the rocky streams being overshadowed by groves of graceful
tree-ferns, from amid whose waving fronds rise the tall smooth
stems of the white gums. Over ten millions of acres are thus
covered with forest-clad mountains which in due time will become a
very valuable asset of the state. The Australian Alps are connected
with the Pyrenees by a long ridge called the Dividing Range (1500
to 3000 ft. high).

Victoria is fairly well watered, but its streams are generally
too small to admit of navigation. This, however, is not the case
with the Murray
river. The Murray for a distance of Rivers. 670 m. (or
1250 m. if its various windings be followed) forms the boundary
between New
South Wales and Victoria; it receives a number of tributaries
from the Victorian side. The Mitta Mitta, which rises in the heart of the Australian Alps, is
150 m. long. The Ovens, rising among the same mountains, is
slightly shorter. The Goulburn (340 m.) flows almost entirely
through well-settled agricultural country, and is deep enough to be
used in its lower part for navigation. The valley of this river is
a fertile grain - producing
district. The Campaspe (150 m.) has too little volume of water to
be of use for navigation; its valley is also agricultural, and
along its banks there lie a
close succession of thriving town - ships. The Loddon (over 200 m.)
rises in the Pyrenees. The upper part flows through a plain, to the
right agricultural and to the left auriferous, containing nearly
forty thriving towns, including Bendigo (formerly named Sandhurst) and Castlemaine. In the
lower part of the valley the soil is also fertile, but the rainfall
is small. To the west of the Loddon is the Avoca river with a length of 140 m.; it is of
slight volume, and though it flows towards the Murray it loses
itself in marshes and salt lagoons
before reaching that river.

The rivers which flow southwards into the ocean are numerous.
The Snowy river rises in New South Wales, and in Victoria flows entirely through
wild and almost wholly unoccupied territory.

The Tambo (120 m. long), which rises in the heart of the
Australian Alps, crosses the Gippsland plains and falls into Lake
King, one of the Gippsland lakes; into the same lake falls the Mitchell river, rising also
in the Australian Alps. The Mitchell is navigated for a short
distance. The Latrobe empties itself into Lake Wellington after a course
of 135 m.; it rises at Mount Baw Baw. The Yarra Yarra rises in the
"Black Spur" of the Australian
Alps. Emerging in a deep valley from the ranges, it follows a
sinuous course through the undulating plains called the "Yarra
Flats," which are wholly enclosed by hills, on whose slopes are
some of the best vineyards of Australia; it finds its way out of
the Flats between high and precipitous but well-wooded banks, and
finally reaches Port Phillip Bay below Melbourne. Owing to its
numerous windings its course through that city and its suburbs is
at least thirty miles. Nearer to the sea its waterway, formerly
available for vessels drawing 16 ft., has now been deepened so as
to be available for vessels drawing 20 ft. The Barwon, farther
west, is a river of considerable length but little volume, flowing
chiefly through pastoral
lands. The Hopkins and Glenelg (280 m.) both water the splendid
pastoral lands of the west, the lower course of the former passing
through the fertile district of Warrnambool, well known throughout
Australia as a potato-growing
region.

In the west there are Lakes Corangamite and Colac, due north of
Cape Otway. The former is intensely salt; the latter is fresh,
having an outlet for its waters. Lakes Tyrrell and Hindmarsh lie in
the plains of the north-west. In summer they are dried up, and in
winter are again formed by the waters of rivers that have no
outlet. In the east are the Gippsland lakes, formed by the waters
of the Latrobe, Mitchell and Tambo, being dammed back by the
sandhills of the Ninety Mile Beach. They are connected with Bass
Strait by a narrow and shifting channel through a shallow bar; the government of Victoria has
done a great deal of late years to deepen the entrance and make it
safer. The upper lake is called Lake Wellington; a narrow passage
leads into Lake Victoria, which is joined to a wider expanse called
Lake King. These are all fresh-water lakes and are visited by
tourists, being readily accessible from Melbourne. (T. A. C.) Geology. - Victoria includes a
more varied and complete geological sequence than any other area of
equal size in Australia. Its geological foundation consists of a
band of Archean and Lower Palaeozoic rocks, which forms the
backbone of the state. The sedimentary rocks in this foundation
have been thrown into folds, of which the axes trend approximately
north and south. The Lower Palaeozoic and Archean rocks build up the Highlands of
Victoria, which occupy the whole width of the state at its eastern
end, extending from the New South Wales border on the north to the
shore of the Southern Ocean on the south. These Highlands
constitute the whole of the mountainous country of Gippsland and
the north-eastern districts. They become narrower to the west, and
finally, beyond the old plateau of Dundas, disappear beneath the
recent loams of the plains along the South Australian border. The
Lower Palaeozoic and Archean rocks bear upon their surface some Upper Palaeozoic
rocks, which occur in belts running north and south, and have been
preserved by infolding or faulting; such are the Grampian
Sandstones in the west; the Cathedral Mountain Sandstones to the
north-east of Melbourne; the belt
of Devonian
and Lower Carboniferous rocks that extends
across eastern Victoria, through Mount Wellington to Mansfield; and
finally, far to the east, is the belt of the Snowy river
porphyries, erupted by a chain of Lower Devonian volcanoes. Further
Upper Palaeozoic rocks and the Upper Carboniferous glacial beds
occur in basins on both northern and southern flanks of the
Highlands. The Mesozoic rocks are confined to southern Victoria;
they build up the hills of southern Gippsland and the Otway Ranges;
and farther west, hidden by later rocks, they occur under the coast
of the western district. Between the southern mountain chain and
the Victorian Highlands occurs the Great Valley of Victoria,
occupied by sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Kainozoic age. The
NorthWestern Plains, occurring between the northern foot of the
Highlands and the Murray, are occupied by Kainozoic sediments.

Victoria has a fairly complete geological sequence, though it is
poorer than New South Wales in the Upper Carboniferous and Lower
Mesozoic. The Archean rocks form two blocks of gneisses and schists, which build up the
Highlands of Dundas in the west, and of the north-eastern part of
Victoria. They were originally described as metamorphosed Silurian rocks, but must be
of Archean age. Another series of Archean rocks is more widely
developed, and forms the old framework upon which the geology of
Victoria has been built up. They are known as the Heathcotian
series, and consist of phyllites, schists and amphibolites; while
their most characteristic feature is the constant association of
foliated diabase and beds of
jasperoids. Volcanic agglomerates occur in the series at the
typical locality of Heathcote. The Heathcotian rocks form the
Colbinabbin Range, which runs for 40 m. northward and southward,
east of Bendigo. They are also exposed on the surface at the
eastern foot of the Grampian Range, and at Dookie, and on the
southern coast in Waratah Bay; they have been proved by bores under
Rushworth, and they apparently underlie parts of the Gippsland
coalfields. The Cambrian rocks have so far only been de
finitely proved near Mansfield. Mr A. M. Howitt has there collected
some fragmentary remains of Olenellus and worm tubes of the Cambrian genus
Salterella. These beds at Mansfield contain phosphatic
limestones and wavellite.

The Ordovician system is well developed.
It consists of slates and quartzites; and some schists around the
granites of the western district, and in the Pyrenees, are regarded
as metamorphic Ordovician. The Ordovician has a rich graptolitic fauna, and they have been
classified into the following divisions: - Upper Ordovician
Darriwill Series Castlemaine Series Lower Ordovician Bendigo Series
Lancefield Series The Ordovician beds are best developed in a band
running northnorth-west and south-south-east across Victoria, of
which the eastern boundary passes through Melbourne. This
Ordovician band begins on the south with the block forming the
plateau of Arthur's Seat and Mornington Peninsula, as proved by
Ferguson. This outlier is bounded to the north by the depression of
Port Phillip and the basalt
plains west of Melbourne. It reappears north of them at Lancefield,
whence it extends along the Highlands, past Ballarat, with southern outliers as far as
Steiglitz. It forms the whole of the Ballarat Plateau, and is
continued northward through the goldfields of Castlemaine, Bendigo
and the Pyrenees, till it dips under the North-Western Plains.
Certain evidence as to the age of the rocks in the Pyrenees has not
yet been collected, and they may be pre-Ordovician. Some Upper
Ordovician rocks occur in the mountains of eastern Gippsland, as
near Woods Point, and in north-eastern Victoria, in WombatCreek.

The Silurian system consists of two divisions: the lower or
Melbournian, and the upper or Yeringian. Both consist in the main
of sandstones, quartzites and shales; but the upper series includes
lenticular masses of limestone, at Lillydale, Loyola and along the
Thomson river. The
limestones are rich in typical Silurian corals and bryozoa, and the shales and
sandstones contain brachiopods and trilobites. The Silurian rocks are well
exposed in sections near Melbourne; they occur in a belt running
from the southern coast at Waratah Bay, west of Wilson's
Promontory, north-north-westward across Victoria, and parallel to
the Ordovician belt, which underlies them on the west. The Silurian
rocks include the goldfields of the Upper Yarra, Woods Point,
Walhalla and Rushworth, while the limestones are worked for lime at Lillydale and Waratah
Bay. The Devonian system includes representatives of the lower,
middle and upper series. The Lower Devonian series includes the
porphyries and their associated igneous rocks, along the valley of
the Snowy river. They represent the remains of an old chain of
volcanoes which once extended north and south across Victoria. The
Middle Devonian is mainly formed of marine sandstones, and
limestones in eastern Gippsland. It is best developed in the
valleys of the Mitchell, the Tambo and the Snowy rivers. The Upper
Devonian rocks include sandstones, shales and coarse conglomerates.
At the close of Middle Devonian times there were intense crustal
disturbances, and the granitic massifs, which formed the
primitive mountain axis of Victoria, were then intruded.

The Carboniferous system begins with the Avon river sandstones, containing
Lepidodendron, and the red sandstones, with Lower
Carboniferous fish, collected by
Mr Geo. Sweet near Mansfield. Probably the Grampian Sandstone, the
Cathedral Mountain Sandstone, and some in the Mount Wellington
district belong to the same period. The Upper Carboniferous
includes the famous glacial deposits and boulder clays, by which the occurrence of a
Carboniferous glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere was first
demonstrated. These beds occur at Heathcote, Bendigo, the Loddon
Valley, southern Gippsland and the North-Eastern district. The beds
comprise boulder
clay, containing ice-scratched
boulders, and sometimes rest upon ice-scratched, moutonne surfaces,
and some lake deposits, similar to those laid down in glacial
lakes. The glacial beds are overlain by sandstones containing
Gangamopteris, and Kitson's work in Northern Tasmania leaves no doubt that
they are on the horizon of
the Greta or Lower Coal Measures
of New South Wales.

The Mesozoic group is represented only by Jurassic rocks, which form the mountains of
southern Gippsland and include its coalfields. The rocks contain
fossil land plants, occasional fish remains and the claw of a
dinosaur, &c. The coal is of excellent quality. The mudstones,
which form the main bulk of this series, are largely composed of
volcanic debris, which decomposes to a fertile soil. These rocks
trend south-westward along the Bass Range, which reaches Western
Port. They skirt the Mornington Peninsula, underlie part of Port
Phillip and the Bellarine Peninsula, and are exposed in the
Barrabool Hills to the south-west of Geelong; thence they extend into the Otway
Ranges, which are wholly built of these rocks and contain some coal
seams. Farther west they disappear below the recent sediments and
volcanic rocks of the Warrnambool district. They are exposed again
in the Portland Peninsula, and rise again to form the Wannon Hills,
to the south of Dundas.

The Kainozoic beds include three main series: lacustrine, marine
and volcanic. The main lacustrine series is probably of Oligocene
age, and is important from its thick beds of brown coal, which are
thickest in the Great Valley of Victoria in southern Gippsland. A
cliff face on the banks of the Latrobe, near Morwell, shows 90 ft.
of it, and a bore near Morwell is recorded as having passed through
850 ft. of brown coal. Its thickness, at least in patches, is very
great. The brown coals occur to the south-east of Melbourne, under
the basalts between it and Geelong. Brown coal is also abundant
under the Murray plains in north-western Victoria. The Kainozoic
marine rocks occur at intervals along the southern coast and in the
valleys opening from it. The most important horizon is apparently
of Miocene age. The rocks
occur at intervals in eastern Victoria, along the coast and up the
river valleys, from the Snowy river westward to Alberton. At the
time of the deposition of these beds Wilson's Promontory probably
extended south-eastward and joined Tasmania; for the mid-Kainozoic
marine deposits do not occur between Alberton and Flinders, to the
west of Western Port. They extend up the old valley of Port Phillip
as far as Keilor to the north of Melbourne, and are widely
distributed under the volcanic rocks of the Western Plains. They
are exposed on the floors of the volcanic cauldrons, and have been
found by mining operations
under the volcanic rocks of the Ballarat plateau near Pitfield. The
Miocene sea extended up the Glenelg valley, round the western
border of the Dundas Highlands, and spread over the Lower Murray
Basin into New South Wales; its farthest south-eastern limit was in
a valley at Stawell. Some
later marine deposits occur at the Lakes Entrance in eastern
Gippsland, and in the valley of the Glenelg.

The volcanic series begins with a line of great dacite domes including the
geburite-dacite of Macedon, which is associated with solvsbergites
and trachy-dolerites. The eruption of these domes was followed by
that of sheets of basalt of several different ages, and the
intrusion of some trachyte
dykes. The oldest basalts are associated with the Oligocene lake
deposits; and fragments of the large lava sheets of this period form some of the
table-topped mountains in the Highlands of eastern Victoria. The
river gravels below the lavas have been worked for gold, and land plants discovered in the workings.
At Flinders the basalts are associated with Miocene limestones. The
largest development of the volcanic rocks are a series of confluent
sheets of basalt, forming the Western Plains, which occupy over
10,000 sq. m. of south-western Victoria. They are crossed almost
continuously by the SouthWestern railway for 166 m. from Melbourne to
Warrnambool. The volcanic craters built up by later eruptions are
well preserved: such are Mount Elephant, a simple breached cone; Mount Noorat, with a large primary crater and four secondary craters
on its flanks; Mount Warrenheip, near Ballarat, a single cone with
the crater breached to the north-west. Mount Franklin, standing on the
Ordovician rocks north of Daylesford, is a weathered cone breached to
the south-east. In addition to the volcanic craters, there are
numerous volcanic cauldrons formed by subsidence, such as
Bullenmerri and Gnotuk near Camperdown, Keilembete near Terang, and
Tower Hill near Port Fairy. Tower Hill consists of a
large volcanic cauldron, and rising from an island in a lake on its
floor is a later volcanic crater.

The Pleistocene,
or perhaps Upper Pliocene,
deposits of most interest are those containing the bones of giant
marsupials, such as the Diprotodon and
Palorchestes, which have been found near Geelong,
Castlemaine, Lake Kolungulak, &c.; at the last locality
Diprotodon and various extinct kangaroos have been found
in association with the dingo.
There is no trace in these deposits of the existence of man, and J.
W. Gregory has reasserted the
striking absence of evidence of man's residence in Victoria, except
for a very limited period. There is no convincing evidence of
Pleistocene glacial deposits in Victoria. Of the many records, the
only one that can still be regarded as at all probable is that
regarding Mount Bogong.

The chief literature on the geology of Victoria is to be found
in the maps and publications of the Geological Survey - a branch of
the Mines Department. A map of the
State, on the scale of eight inches to the mile, was issued in
1902. The Survey has published numerous quarter-sheet maps, and maps of the gold fields and
parishes. The geology is described in the Reports, Bulletins and
Memoirs of the Survey, and in the Quarterly Reports of the Mining
Registrars. Statistics
of the mining industry are stated in the Annual Report of the
Secretary for Mines. See also the general summary of the geology of
Victoria, by R. Murray, issued by the Mines Department in 1887 and
1895. Numerous papers on the geology of the State are contained in
the Trans. R. Soc. Victoria, and on its mining geology in
the Trans. of the Austral. Inst. Min. Engineers. The
physical geography has
been described by J. W. Gregory in the Geography of
Victoria (1903). (J. W. G.) Flora. - The native trees belong chiefly to
the Myrtaceae, being largely composed of Eucalypti or gum
trees. There are several hundred species, the most notable being
Eucalyptus
amygdalina, a tree with tall white stem, smooth as a marble column, and without
branches for 60 or 70 ft. from the ground. It is singularly
beautiful when seen in groves, for these have all the appearance of
lofty pillared cathedrals. These trees are among the tallest in the
world, averaging in some districts about 300 ft. The longest ever
measured was found prostrate on the Black Spur: it measured 470 ft.
in length; it was 81 ft. in girth near the root. Eucalyptus
globulus or blue gum has broad green leaves, which yield the
eucalyptus oil of the pharmacopoeia. Eucalyptus
rostrata is extensively used in the colony as a timber, being
popularly known as red gum or hard wood. It is quite unaffected by
weather, and almost indestructible when used as piles for piers or
wharves. Smaller species of eucalyptus form the common "bush." Melaleucas, also of Myrtacea
kind, are prominent objects along all the coasts, where they grow
densely on the sand-hills, forming
"ti-tree" scrub. Eucalyptus dumosa is a species which
grows only 6 to 12 ft. high, but with a straight stem; the trees
grow so close together that it is difficult to penetrate the scrub
formed by them. Eleven and a half million acres of the Wimmera
district are covered with this "mallee scrub," as it is called.
Recent legislation has made this land easy of acquisition, and the
whole of it has been taken up on pastoral leases. Five hundred
thousand acres have recently been taken up as an irrigation colony on
Californian principles and laid out in 40-acre farms
and orchards. The Leguminosae are chiefly represented by
acacias, of which the wattle is the commonest. The black wattle is
of considerable value, its gum being marketable and its bark worth
from £5 to £10 a ton for tanning purposes. The golden wattle is a
beautiful tree, whose rich yellow blossoms fill the river-valleys
in early spring with delicious scent. The Casuarinae or she-oaks are gloomy
trees, of little use, but of frequent occurrence. Heaths, grass-trees and magnificent ferns
and fern-trees are also notable
features in Victorian forests. But European and subtropical
vegetation has been introduced into the colony to such an extent as
to have largely altered the characters of the flora in many
districts.

Fauna

The indigenous animals belong almost wholly to the Marsupialia. Kangaroos
are tolerably abundant on the grassy plains, but the process of
settlement is causing their extermination. A smaller species of
almost identical appearance called the wallaby is still numerous in the forest lands.
Kangaroo rats, opossums,
wombats, native bears, bandicoots and native cats all belong to the
same class. The wombat forms extensive burrows in some districts.
The native bear is a frugivorous little animal, and very harmless.
Bats are numerous, the largest species being the flying fox, very abundant
in some districts. Eagles, hawks, turkeys, pigeons, ducks, quail, snipe and plover are common; but the characteristic
denizens of the forest are vast flocks of parrots, parakeets and
cockatoos, with sulphur-coloured or crimson crests. The laughing jackass (giant
kingfisher) is heard in all the country parts, and magpies are
numerous everywhere. Snakes
are numerous, but less than one-fourth of the species are venomous,
and they are all very shy. The deaths from snake-bite do not
average two per annum. A great change is rapidly taking place in
the fauna of the country, owing to cultivation and acclimatization. Dingoes have nearly
disappeared, and rabbits, which were introduced only a few years
ago, now abound in such numbers as to be a positive nuisance. Deer are also rapidly becoming numerous. Sparrows
and swallows are as common as in England. The trout, which has also been acclimatized, is
taking full possession of some of the streams.

Climate

Victoria enjoys an exceptionally fine climate. Roughly speaking,
about one-half of the days in the year present a bright, cloudless
sky, with a bracing and dry atmosphere, pleasantly
warm but not relaxing. These days are mainly in the autumn and
spring. During forty-eight years, ending with 1905, there have been
on an average 132 days annually on which rain has fallen more or less (chiefly in winter,
but rainy days do not exceed thirty in the year. The average yearly
rainfall was 25.61 in. The disagreeable feature of the Victorian
climate is the occurrence of north winds, which blow on an average
about sixty days in the year. In winter they are cold and dry, and
have a slightly depressing effect; but in summer they are hot and
dry, and generally bring with them disagreeable clouds of dust. The winds themselves blow for
periods of two or three days at a time, and if the summer has six
or eight such periods it becomes relaxing and produces languor.
These winds cease with extraordinary suddenness, being replaced in
a minute or two by a cool and bracing breeze from the south. The temperature often
falls 40° or 50° F. in an hour. The maximum shade temperature at
Melbourne in 1905 was 108.5°, and the minimum 32°, giving a mean of
56.1°. The temperature never falls below freezing-point, except for
an hour or two before sunrise in the coldest month. Snow has been known to fall in Melbourne for a few
minutes two or three times during a long period of years. It is
common enough, however, on the plateau; Ballarat, which is over moo
ft. high, always has a few snowstorms, and the roads to Omeo among
the Australian Alps lie under several feet of snow in the winter.
The general healthiness of the climate is shown by the fact that
the average death-rate for the last five years has been only 12.71
of the population.

Population

As regards population, Victoria maintained the leading position
among the Australasian colonies until the end of 1891, when New
South Wales overtook it. The population in 1905 was 1,218,571, the
proportion of the sexes being nearly equal. In 1860 the population
numbered 537,847; in 1870, 720,599; in 1880, 860,067; and in 1890,
1,133,266. The state had gained little, if anything, by immigration during
these years, for the excess of immigration over emigration from 1861 to
1870 and from 1881 to 18go was counterbalanced by the excess of
departures during the period 1871 to 1880 and from 1891 to 1905.
The mean population of Melbourne in 1905 was 511,900.

Period.

Births per 1000

o

of Population.

p e riod.

Births per 1000

of Population.

1861-65

43.30

1881-85

30.76

1866-70

39.27

1886-90

32.72

18 7 1- 75

35'69

1891-95

31.08

1876-80

31'43

1896-1900

26.20

1901-1905

24'97

Period.

Deaths per woo

of Population.

period. I

D eaths 1

of Popu per lation 00.0 .

1861-65

17.36

1881-85

14'65

1866-70

16.52

1886-90

16.07

1871-75

15.64

1891-95

14 10

1876-80

14.92

1896-1900

13'67

1901-1905

12.71

The births in 1905 numbered 30,107 and the deaths 14,676,
representing respectively 24.83 and 12.10 per moo of the
population. The birth-rate has fallen markedly since 1875, as the
following statement of the averages arranged in quinquennial
periods shows: - The number of illegitimate births during 1905 was
1689, which gives a proportion of 5.61 to every ioo births
registered. The death-rate has greatly improved. Arranged in
quinquennial periods the death-rates were: - The marriages in 1905
numbered 8774, which represents a rate of 7.24 per 1000 persons.
This was the highest number reached during a period of fourteen
years, and was 564 more than in 1904 and 1169 more than in 1903. In
the five years 1871-75 the marriagerate stood at 6.38 per woo; in
1876-80, 6.02; in 1881-85, 7'37; in 1886-90, 8.13; in 1901-5,
6.86.

Education

There were in 1905 1930 state schools, in which there were
210,200 children enrolled, the teachers numbering 4689. There were
also 771 private schools with 2289 teachers and a net enrolment of 43,014 children; the majority of
them being connected with one or other of the principal religious
denominations. The total cost of primary instruction in 1905 was
£676,238, being IIs. 2d. per head of population and £4, 14s. 4d.
per head of scholars in average attendance. Melbourne University
maintains its high position as a teaching body. In 1905 the number
of matriculants was 493 and the graduates 118.

Crime is decreasing. In 1905
the number of persons brought before the magistrates was 4 8 ,345.
Drunkenness
accounted for 1 4,45 8, which represents 11.92 per 1000 of the
population: in 1901 the proportion was 1 4.43. Charges against the person numbered
1932, and against property 4032.

Administration

As one of the six states of the Commonwealth, Victoria returns six
senators and twenty-three representatives to the federal
parliament. The local legislative authority is vested in a
parliament of two chambers, both elective - the Legislative
Council, composed of thirty-five members, and the Legislative
Assembly, composed of sixty-eight members. One-half of the members
of the Council retire every three years. The members of the
Assembly are elected by universal suffrage for the term of three years, but the
chamber can be dissolved at any time by the Governor in council.
Members of the Assembly are paid boo a year.

The whole of Victoria in 1905 was under the control of
municipalities, with the exception of about 600 sq. m. in the
mountainous part of Wonnangatta, and 64 sq. m. in French Island.
The number of municipalities in that year was 206; they comprised
II cities, II towns, 38 boroughs and 146 shires.

X XVIII. 2 a Finance.
- The public revenue in 1905 showed an increase on that of the
three previous years, being £7,515,1 4 2, equal to £6, 4s. 2d. per
head of population; the expenditure amounted to £7,343,742, which
also showed a slight increase and was equal to £6, is. 4d. per
inhabitant. The public revenue in five-yearly periods since 1880
was: 1880, £4,621,282; 1885, £6,290,361; 1890, £8,519,159; 1895,
£6,712,512; and 1901, £7,722,397. The chief sources of revenue in
1905 were: Customs
duties (federal refunds), £2,017,378; other taxation, £979,029; railway receipts,
£3,609,120; public lands, £408,836; other sources, £501,379. The
main items of expenditure were: railways (working expenses),
£2,004,601; public instruction, £661,794; interest and charges on
public debt, £1,884,208; other services, £ 2 ,793, 1 39. On the
30th of June 1905 the public debt of the state stood at
£51,513,767, equal to £42, 9s. 7d. per inhabitant. The great bulk
of the proceeds of loans was applied to the construction of
revenue-yielding works, only about three millions sterling being otherwise
used.

Up to 1905 the state had alienated 26,346,802 acres of the
public domain, and had 17,994,233 acres under lease; the area neither alienated nor leased
amounted to 11,904,725 acres.

The capital value of properties as returned by the
municipalities in 1905 was £210,920,174, and the annual value
£11,743,270. In 1884 the values were 104 millions and £8,099,000,
and in 1891, 203 millions and £13,734,000; the year last mentioned
marked the highest point of inflation in land values, and during
the following years there was a vast reduction, both in capital and
in annual values, the lowest point touched being in 1895; since
1895 a gradual improvement has taken place, and there is every
evidence that this improvement will continue. The revenues of
municipalities are derived chiefly from rates, but the rates are
largely supplemented by fees and licences, and contributions for
services rendered. Excluding government endowments and special
grants, which in 1905 amounted to £90,572, the revenues of the
municipalities in the years named were: 1880, £616,132; 1885, £7 8
9,4 2 9; 1890, £ 1, 2 73, 8 55; 18 95, £1,038,720; 1900, £ 1, 0 3 6
,497; 1905, £1,345,221. In addition to the municipalities there are
other local bodies empowered to levy rates; these and their revenues in 1905 were:
Melbourne Harbour Trust, £189,983;£189,983;
Melbourne and MetropolitanBoard of Works,
£390,441; Fire Boards, £53,279. The Board of Works is the authority
administering the metropolitan water and sewerage works. Excluding revenue from
services rendered, the amount of taxation levied in Victoria
reached in 1905 £4,621,608; of this the federal
government levied £2,488,843, the state government £979, 02 9,
the municipalities £986,009, and the Melbourne Harbour Trust
£167,727.

Productions and Industry: Minerals. - About 25,400
persons find employment in the goldfields, and the quantity of gold
won in 1905 was 810,050 oz., valued at £3,173,744, a decrease of
10,967 oz. as compared with 1904. The dividends paid by gold-mining
companies in 1905 amounted to £454,431, which, although about the
average of recent years, showed a decline of £168,966 as compared
with the sum distributed in 1904. Up to the close of 1905 the total
value of gold won from the first discovery in 1851 was
£273,236,500. No other metallic minerals are systematically worked,
although many valuable deposits are known to exist. Brown coal, or
lignite, occurs extensively,
and attempts have frequently been made to use the mineral for
ordinary fuel purposes, but
without much success. Black coal is now being raised in
increasingly large quantities. The principal collieries are the
Outrim Howitt, the Coal Creek Proprietary, the Jumbunna and the
Korumburra, all in the Gippsland district. The production of coal
in 1905 was 155,185 tons, valued at £79,060; £4100 worth of silver and £11,159 worth of tin were raised; the value of other
minerals produced was £93,39 2, making a total mineral production
(exclusive of gold) of £187,711, Agriculture. - Judged by the area
under tillage, Victoria ranks first among the states of the
Australian group. The area under crop in 1905 was 4,269,877 acres, compared with
2,116,000 acres in 1891 and 1,435,000 acres in 1881. Wheat-growing claims the chief
attention, 2,070,517 acres being under that cereal in 1905. The
areas devoted to other crops were as follows: maize, 11,785 acres; oats, 312,052 acres; barley, 40,938 acres; other
cereals, 14,212 acres; hay, 591,771591,771 acres;
potatoes, 44,670 acres; vines, 26,402 acres; green foliage, 34,041
acres; other tillage, 73,574 acres; land in fallow comprised 1,049,915 acres. Victorian
wheat is of exceptionally fine quality, and usually commands a high
price in the London market.
The average yield per acre in 1905 was 11.31 bushels; except for
the year 1903, the total crop and the average per acre in 1905 were
the highest ever obtained. The yield of oats was 23.18 bushels per
acre, of barley 2 5'95, and of potatoes 2.58 tons. Great progress
has been made in the cultivation of the grapevine, and
Victoria now produces more than one-third of the wine made in Australia.

Live Stock

The number of sheep in 1905
was 11,455,115. The quality of the sheep is steadily improving.
Systematic attention to stock has brought about an improvement in
the weight of the fleece, and careful observations show that
between 1861 and 1871 the average weight of wool per sheep
increased about one-third; between 1871 and 1881 about one pound was added to the weight
per fleece, and there has been a further improvement since the year
named. The following were the number of sheep depastured at the
dates named: 1861, 6,240,000; 1871, 10,002,000; 1881, 10,267,000;
1891, 12,928,000; 1901, 10,841,790. The horses number 385,513, the
swine 273,682, and the horned cattle 1,137,690; of these last,
649,100 were dairy cows. Butter-making has greatly
increased since 1890, and a fairly large export trade has arisen.
In 1905, 57,606,821 lb of butter were made, 4,297,350 lb of cheese and 16,433,665 lb of bacon and hams.

Manufactures.-There has been a good deal of fluctuation
in the amount of employment afforded by the factories, as the
following figures show: hands employed, 1885, 49,297; 1890, 56,639;
1893, 39,473; 1895, 46,095; 1900, 64,207; 1905, 80,235. Of the
hands last named, 52,925 were males and 27,310 females. The total
number of establishments was 4264, and the horse-power of machinery actually used,
43,492. The value of machinery was returned at £6,187,919, and of
land and buildings £7,771,238. The majority of the establishments
were small; those employing from 50 to 100 hands in 1905 were 161,
and upwards of 100 hands, 124.

Commerce.-Excluding the coastal trade, the tonnage of vessels entering Victorian ports in
1905 was 3,989,903, or about 34 tons per inhabitant. The imports in
the same year were valued at £ 22 ,337, 886, and the exports at
£22,758,828. These figures represent £18, 8s. 5d. and £18, 15s. 6d.
per inhabitant respectively. The domestic produce exported was
valued at £14,276,961; in 1891 the value was £13,026,426; and in
1881, £12,480,567. The comparatively small increase over the period
named is due mainly to the large fall in prices of the staple articles of local
production. There has, however, been some loss of trade due to the
action of the New South Wales government in extending its railways
into districts formerly supplied from Melbourne. The principal
articles of local production exported during 1905 with their values
were as follows: butter and cheese, £1,576,189; gold (coined and bullion), £1,078,560; wheat,
£1,835,204; frozen mutton, £275,195; frozen and preserved rabbits
and hares, £220,940; skins and hides, £535,086; wool, £2,501,990;
horses, £278,033; cattle, £293,241; sheep, £ 326,526; oats,
£165,585; flour, £590,297; hay
and chaff, £97,47 1; bacon and
ham, £89,943;£89,943; jams and
jellies, £73,233; fruit
(dried and fresh), £ 12 5,33 0. The bulk of the trade passes
through Melbourne, the imports in 1905 at that port being
£18,112,528.

Defence.-The Commonwealth defence forces in Victoria
number about 5700 men, 4360 being partially paid militia and 1000unpaid volunteers. There are also 18,400 riflemen
belonging to rifle clubs.
Besides these there are 200 naval artillerymen, capable of being
employed either as a light artillery land force, or on board war
vessels. The total expenditure in 1905 for purposes of defence in
the state was £291,577.

Railways.-The railways have a total length of 3394 m.,
and the cost of their construction and equipment up to the 30th of
June 1905 was £41,259,387; this sum was obtained by raising loans,
mostly in London, on the security of the general revenues of the state.
In 1905 the gross railway
earnings were £3,582,266, and the working expenses £ 2,222,279; so
that the net earnings were L1,359,987, which sum represents 3.30%
on the capital cost.

Posts and Telegraphs.-Victoria had a length of 6338 m.
of telegraph line in
operation in 1905; there were 969 stations, and the business done
was represented by 2,256,482 telegrams. The postoffices, properly
so-called, numbered 1673; during that year 119,689,000 letters and
postcards and 59,024,000 newspapers and packets passed through them.
The postal
service is carried on at a profit; the revenue in 1905 was
£708,369, and the expenditure £ 62 7,735. Telephones are widely
used; in 1905 the length of telephone wire in use was 28,638 m., and the
number of telephones 14,134; the revenue from this source for the
year was £102,396.

Banking.-At the end of 1905 the banks of issue in
Victoria, eleven in number, had liabilities to the extent of
£36,422,844, and assets of
£40,511,335. The principal items among the liabilities were: notes
in circulation, 035,499; deposits bearing interest, £ 2 3, 0
55,743; and deposits not bearing interest, £12,068,153. The chief
assets were: coin and bullion, 0,056,666;
debts due, £ 29,918,226; property, £1,919230; other assets, £
617,213. The money in deposit in the savings banks amounted to £10,896,741,
the number of depositors being 447,382. The total sum on deposit in
the state in 1905 was, therefore, £46,020,637, which represents
£37, 15s. 4d. per head of population.

Authorities. - J. Bonwick, Discovery and Settlement of Port
Phillip (Melbourne, 1856), Early Days of Melbourne
(Melbourne, 1857), and Port Phillip Settlement (London,
1883); Rev. J. D. Lang, Historical Account of the Separation of
Victoria from New South Wales (Sydney, 1870); Victorian
Year-Book (annually, 18 731905, Melbourne); F. P. Labilliere,
Early History of the Colony of Victoria (London, 1878); G.
W. Rusden, Discovery, Survey and Settlement of Port
Phillip (Melbourne, 1878); R. B. Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria
(2 vols., Melbourne, 1878); J. J. Shillinglaw, Historical
Records of Port Phillip (Melbourne, 1879); David Blair,
Cyclopaedia of Australasia (Melbourne, 1881); E.
Jenks, The Government of Victoria (London, 1881); E. M.
Curr, The Australian Race: its Origin, Language, Customs,
&'c. (Melbourne, 1886-87); Edmund Finn, Chronicles of
Early Melbourne (Melbourne, 1889); attempted by the government
of New South Wales at Early P Y g days.
Settlement Point, near French Island, Western Port Bay, but it was
abandoned shortly afterwards. In 1834 Messrs Edward and Francis Henty, who had taken
part in the original expedition to Swan river, West Australia, and afterwards
migrated to Van Diemen Land, crossed Bass Strait, established a
shore whaling station at Portland Bay, and formed sheep and cattle
stations on the river Wannon and Wando rivulet, near the site of
the present towns of Merino,
Casterton and Coleraine.
In 1835 a number of flock owners
in Van Diemen Land purchased through Batman from the aborigines a
tract of 700,000 acres on the shores of Port Phillip. The sale was
repudiated by the British government, which regarded all unoccupied
land in any part of Australia as the property of the crown, and did not recognize the
title of the aborigines. Batman, however, remained at Port Phillip,
and commenced farming within the boundaries of the present city of
Melbourne. He was followed by John Pascoe Fawkner and other
settlers from Van Diemen Land, who occupied the fertile plains of
the new territory. In 1836 Captain Lonsdale was sent to Melbourne
by the government of New South Wales to act as resident magistrate in Port
Phillip. The first census taken in 1838 showed that the population
was 3511, of whom 3080 were males and 431 females. In 1839 Mr
Latrobe was appointed superintendent of Port Phillip, and a
resident judge was nominated for
Melbourne, with jurisdiction over the territory which now forms the
state of Victoria. The years 1840 and 1841 were periods of
depression owing to the decline in the value of all descriptions of
live stock, for which the first settlers had paid high prices; but
there was a steady immigration from Great Britain of men with means,
attracted by the profits of sheep-farming, and of labourers and
artisans who obtained free passages under the provisions of the Wakefield system, under
which half the proceeds from the sale and occupation of crown lands
were expended upon the introduction of workers. The whole district
was occupied by sheep and cattle graziers, and in 1841 the
population had increased to 11,738. Melbourne was incorporated as a
town in 1842, and was raised to the dignity of a city in 1847. In
that same year the first Anglican was ordained, and in 1848 the
first Roman Catholicbishop. The third census (taken
in 1846) showed a population of 32,870.

The elective element was introduced into the Legislative Council
of New South Wales in 1842, in the proportion of twenty-four members to twelve
nominated by the crown, and the district of Port Phillip, including
Melbourne, returned six members. But the colonists were not
satisfied with government Philip Mennell, The
Dictionary of Australasian Biography (Melbourne, 1892); T. A.
Coghlan, Australia and New Zealand (1903-4). (T. A. C.)
History. - The first discoverer of Victoria was Captain Cook, in command of H.M.S.
"Endeavour," who sighted Cape Everard, about half-way between Cape
Howe and the mouth of the Snowy river, on the 19th of April 1770, a
few days prior to his arrival at Botany Bay. The first persons to land in
Victoria were the supercargo and a portion of the crew of the merchant ship "SydneyCove," which was wrecked at the Furneaux Islands
in Bass Strait on the 9th of February 1797. In the same year, Mr
Bass, a surgeon in the navy,
discovered the strait which bears his name and separates Victoria
from Tasmania. Lieut. Grant in the "Lady Nelson" surveyed the south
coast in 1800, and in 1801 Port Phillip was for the first time
entered by Lieut. Murray. In 1802 that harbour was surveyed by
Captain Flinders, and in the same year Mr Grimes, the
surveyor-general of New South Wales, explored the country in the
neighbourhood of the present site of Melbourne. In 1804
Lieut.-Colonel Collins, who had been sent from England, formed a
penal settlement on the shores of Port Phillip, but after remaining
a little more than three months near Indented Head, he removed his
party to Van Diemen Land. Victoria was visited in 1824 by two sheep
farmers named Hume and Hovell, who rode overland from Lake George, New South
Wales, to the shores of Corio Bay. In 1826 a convict establishment
was from and by Sydney; an agitation in favour of separation
commenced, and in 1851 Victoria was formed into a separate colony
with an Executive Council appointed by the crown, and a Legislative
Council, partly elective and partly nominated, on the same lines as
that of New South Wales. The population at that date was 77,435.
Gold was discovered a few weeks after the colony had entered upon
its separate existence, and a large number of persons were
attracted to the mines, first from the neighbouring colonies - some
of which, such as South Australia, Van Diemen's Land and
West Australia, were almost denuded of able-bodied men and women -
and subsequently from Europe
and America. Notwithstanding
the difficulties with which the local government had to contend, the
task of maintaining law and order was fairly grappled with; the
foundations of a liberal system of primary, secondary and
university education were laid; roads, bridges and telegraphs were constructed, and
Melbourne was provided with an excellent supply of water.

Local self-government was introduced in 1853, and the
Legislature found time to discuss a new Constitution, which not
only eliminated the nominee element from the Legis lature, but made
the executive government responsible to the people. The
administration of the gold-fields was not popular, and the miners
were dissatisfied at the amount charged for permission to mine for
gold, and at there being no representation for the gold-fields in
the local Legislature. The discontent culminated, at Ballarat in
December 1854, in riots in which there was a considerable loss of
life both amongst the miners and the troops. Eventually, an export
duty on gold was substituted for the licencefee, but
every miner had to take out a right which enabled him to occupy a
limited area of land for mining, and also for residence. The census
taken in 1854 showed a population of 236,778. The new Constitution
was proclaimed in 1855, and the old Executive Council was gazetted
as the first responsible ministry. It held office for about sixteen
months, and was succeeded by an administration formed from the
popular party. Several changes were made in the direction of
democratizing the government, and vote by ballot, manhood suffrage and the abolition of
the property qualification followed each other in rapid succession.
To several of these changes there was strenuous opposition, not so
much in the Assembly which represented the manhood, as in the
Council in which the property of the colony was supreme. The crown
lands were occupied by graziers, termed locally "squatters," who
held them under a licence renewable annually at a low rental. These
licences were very valuable, and the goodwill of a grazing farm or "run" commanded a high price. Persons who
desired to acquire freeholds for the purpose of tillage could only
do so by purchasing the land at auction, and the local squatters,
unwilling to be deprived of any portion of a valuable property,
were generally willing to pay a price per acre with which no person
of small means desirous of embarking upon agricultural pursuits
could compete. The result was that although the population had
increased in 1861 to 540,322, the area of land under crop had not
grown proportionately, and Victoria was dependent upon the
neighbouring colonies and even more distant countries for a
considerable portion of its food. A series of Land Acts was passed,
the first in 1860, with the view of encouraging a class of small
freeholders. The principle underlying all these laws was that
residence by landowners on their farms, and their cultivation, were
more important to the state than the sum realized by the sale of
the land. The policy was only partially successful, and by a number
of ingenious evasions a large proportion of the best land in the
colony passed into the possession of the original squatters. But a
sufficient proportion was purchased by small farmers to convert
Victoria into a great agricultural country, and to enable it to
export large quantities of farm and dairy produce.

The greater portion of the revenue was raised by the taxation
through the customs of a small number of products, such as spirits, tobacco, wine, tea, coffee,
&c. But an agitation arose in favour of such an adjustment of the import
duties as would protect the manufactures which at that time were
being coin menced. A determined opposition to this policy was made
by a large minority in the Assembly, and by a large majority in the
Council, but by degrees the democratic party triumphed. The
victory was not gained without a number of political crises which
shook the whole fabric of society to its foundations. The Assembly
tacked the tariff to the Appropriation Bill,
and the Council threw out both. The result was that there was no
legal means of paying either the civil servants or the contractors,
and the government had recourse to an ingenious though questionable
system by which advances were made by a bank which was recouped through
the crown "confessing" that it owed the money, whereupon the
governor issued his warrant
for its payment without any recourse to parliament. Similar
opposition was made by the Council to payment of members, and to a grant
made to Lady Darling, the
wife of Governor Sir Charles Darling, who had been recalled by the
secretary
of state on the charge of having shown partiality to the
democratic party. Indeed on one occasion the dispute between the
government and the Council was so violent that the former dismissed
all the police, magistrates,
county court
judges and other high officials, on the ground that no provision
had been made by the Council, which had thrown out the
Appropriation Bill, for the payment of salaries.

Notwithstanding these political struggles, the population of the
colony steadily increased, and the Legislature found time to pass
some measures which affected the social life and the commercial
position of the colonies. State aid to religion was abolished, and
divorce was made
comparatively easy. A system of free, compulsory and secular
primary education was introduced. The import duties were increased
and the transfer of land was simplified. In 1880 a fortnightly mail service via Suez between England and Melbourne was introduced,
and in 1880 the first International Exhibition ever held in
Victoria was opened. In the following year the census showed a
population of 862,346, of whom 452,083 were males and 410,263
females. During the same year the lengthy dispute between the two
houses of parliament, which had caused so much inconvenience, so
many heartburnings and so many political crises, was brought to an
end by the passage of an act which reduced the qualifications for
members and the election of the Legislative Council, shortened the
tenure of their seats,
increased the number of provinces to fourteen and the number of
members to forty-two. In 1883 a coalition government, in which the Liberal or
protectionist and the Conservative or free-trade party were represented, took
office, and with some changes remained in power for seven
years. During this political truce several important changes
were made in the Constitution. An act for giving greater facilities
for divorce was passed, and with some difficulty obtained the royal
assent. The Victorian railways were handed over to the control of
three commissioners, who to a considerable extent were made
independent of the government, and the civil service was placed under the
supervision of an independent board. In 1887 the representatives of
Victoria met those of the other British colonies and of the United
Kingdom in London, under the presidency of Lord Knutsford, in order to discuss the questions
of defence, postal and telegraphic communication, and the
contribution of Australia to the Imperial navy. In 1888 a weekly
mail service was established via Suez by the steamers of the P.
& O. and the Orient Companies, and the second Victorian
International Exhibition was opened. In 1890 all the Australian
colonies, including New South Wales and New Zealand, sent representatives to a conference
at Melbourne, at which resolutions were passed in favour of the
establishment of a National Australian Convention empowered to
consider and report upon an adequate scheme for the Federal
Constitution. This Convention met in Sydney in 1891 and took the
first step towards federation '(see'Australia).

In 1891 the coalition government resigned and a Liberal
administration was formed. An act passed in that year placed the
railways again under the control of the government. Measures of a
democratic and collectivist tendency have since obtained the assent
of the Legislature. The franchise of property-holders not resident in
an electorate was abolished and the principle of "one man one vote"
was established. Acts have been passed sanctioning Old Age
Pensions; prohibiting shops, except those selling perishable
goods, from keeping open more than eight hours; compelling the
proprietors to give their assistants one half-holiday every six
days; preventing persons from working more than forty-eight hours a
week; and appointing for each trade a tribunal composed of an equal
number of employers and employed to fix a minimum wage. (See
AUSTRALIA.) Victoria enjoyed a large measure of prosperity during
the later 'eighties and earlier 'nineties, and its financial
prosperity enabled the government to expend large sums in extending
railway communication to almost every locality and to commence a
system of irrigation. The soil of Victoria is on the whole more
fertile than in any other colony on the mainland of Australia, and
in no portion of the continent is there any locality equal in
fertility to the western district and some parts of Gippsland. The
rainfall is more equable than in any portion of Australia, but the
northern and north-western districts, which are the most remote
from the sea and the Dividing Range, are subject to droughts,
which, although not so severe or so frequent as in the interior of
the continent, are sufficiently disastrous in their effects. The
results of the expenditure upon irrigation have not been so
successful as was hoped. Victoria has no mountains covered with
snow, which in Italy and South America
supply with water the rivers at the season of the year when the
land needs irrigation, and it was necessary to construct large and
expensive reservoirs. The cost of water is therefore greater than
the ordinary agriculturist who grows grain or breeds
and fattens stock can afford to pay, although the price may not
be too high for orchardists and vine-growers. In 1892 the
prosperity of the colony was checked by a 1892. great
strike which for some months affected produc tion, but speculation in land
continued for some time longer, especially in Melbourne, which at
that time contained nearly half the population, 500,000 out of a
total of 1,140,105. There does not seem to have been any other
reasons for this increase in land values, for there was no
immigration, and the value of every description of produce had
fallen - except that the working classes were prosperous and well
paid, and that the purchase of small allotments in the suburbs
was a popular mode of investment. In 1893 there was a collapse. The
value of land declined enormously, hundreds of persons believed to
be wealthy were ruined, and there was a financial panic which
caused the suspension of all the banks, with the exception of the
Australasia, the Union of Australia, and the New South Wales. Most
of them resumed payment, but three went into liquidation. It was some years before the
normal condition of prosperity was restored, but the great
resources of the colony and the energy of its people discovered new
markets, and new products for them, and enabled them materially to
increase the export trade. (G. C. L.)

Victoria (abbrev "VIC" for purposes of Australia Post and ISO 3166-2:AU and some publications' worldwide extensions of the Chapman codes) is the southernmost mainland state of Australia. It adjoins South Australia to the west and New South Wales to the north-east. Across Bass Strait to the south lies the island state, Tasmania.

When it joined the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 its capital, Melbourne, was the financial capital of Australasia. Some New Zealanders still go there occasionally for shopping.